10 Ways to Beat Post-Cruise Depression

Posted on 10 September, 2014 by Spacejunkie2

sad traveler post-cruise depression cruise

If the sudden absence of pillow chocolates, umbrella drinks and endless horizons leaves you hollow, you might have Post-Cruise Funk (PCF), an affliction that’s affected nearly 100 percent of cruisers, according to a well-cited study I just invented.

But know this: The situation can be remedied.

We’ve compiled 10 tips and strategies, many sourced from Cruise Critic members in recovery, to get you through the painful sea-to-land reacclimation period. Enjoy a dose of the collected advice, and be sure to add to the group therapy session in the comments.
Prescription: The Photo Detox

cruise ship camera photo If a picture is worth 1,000 words, a few of those words must be therapeutic. “I found if I take lots of fun photos while on the cruise, I can stave off some of the depression by reviewing and organizing them into a book,” writes member Tudy. She and her husband periodically host “cruise evenings,” during which they peruse photos, share stories and laugh. Check out our tips for taking better onboard photos.

There is no shortage of Web and mobile apps, like Shutterfly or Cruise Critic sister site TripAdvisor’s TripWow, to preserve a cruise experience.

Side Effects: Narcolepsy, if too many photos coupled with tedious narration are shown to friends
Prescription: Write a Review

write a cruise review As with photos, reframing the at-sea narrative — remember that woman with the Royal Caribbean tattoo? — can be like reliving the experience. When you reminisce by way of review, you’re doing thousands of readers a service through your insights, tips and tricks. Heal yourself by writing a cruise review.

Side Effects: Narcissism sparked from the respect and adulation you receive from thousands of Cruise Critic readers in search of the right ship
Prescription: Focus on Diet

If you’re pining over the loss of cruise food — the availability, the variety, the fanfare — there are antidotes. Drool over epicurean content in Cruise Critic’s cruise food section , recreate at-sea meals with readers’ favorite recipes, or chew on some useful member advice in the Cruise Foodies forum. For example, member MissMap keeps all the nighttime pillow chocolates from her cruise and deposits them in a desk drawer at work: “So if I’m having a stressful day at work,” she writes, “I savor one and take a moment to remember the latest great cruise vacation.” Or borrow cruising’s culinary nomenclature, like member Econom405, who admits to referring to the first post-cruise family dinner she cooks as the “chef’s regional specialty.”

Side Effects: Minor weight gain, modest weight gain, excessive weight gain or this
Prescription: Get the Cruise Cocktail Recipe Booklet

tropical drink For many passengers, that first slurp of sailaway daiquiri marks the official start to a cruise. If you drink to remember, there might be nothing easier than recreating your favorite cruise cocktail at home.

Side Effects: The cruise hangover can be replaced with an actual hangover. Do not operate heavy machinery after using the cruise cocktail recipe booklet.
Prescription: Always Be Booked

vacation on the calendar Chronic PCF sufferers argue there is but one cure to the vicious cycle: the pre-emptive booking. The recommended approach is to plop down on your next cruise while onboard. Many lines offer attractive perks — discounts, reduced deposits, onboard credit — for doing so. The fine print is key here. If you’re serious about this treatment, peruse our in-depth piece on booking onboard.

Don’t think you have the cash? Member Gek offers her tactic on the Cruise Critic forums: “Find a cruise at least 12 months away that looks really good. Forget about cost or circumstances — just book it. Research it, plan it, and up until the day when cancellation penalties kick in, assume the cost or your circumstances will change. If they do not, just cancel and repeat the process. The deposit also becomes a ready source of cash that you can access any time you want. Consider the fun of planning a cruise as the return on your investment.”

Side Effects: Debt, land-sea dysmorphia
Prescription: Join a Roll Call

cruise critic roll call forum message board computer Until sandals touch lido deck, talking about a cruise is what makes it real. Shameless ship’s horn tooting aside, there is no better place to chat with fellow passengers about upcoming itineraries than a Cruise Critic Roll Call. You can swap tips, set up pre-cruise or onboard events or book a group tour if you think your virtual relationships can make the transition to the real world. Meet your fellow passengers here.

Side Effects: Blood pressure spike if pre-cruise conversation veers into the political, religious or cultural
Prescription: Vicarious Immersion Therapy

online community No looming embarkation to boost morale? There are thousands of Cruise Critic members enduring the same pain. Their recourse: the virtual cruise experience. Check out the “live from…” logs endlessly spawned on the Cruise Critic message boards. Here’s but oneprime example, which has been read by thousands of PCF sufferers. Cruise Critic editors also regularly report from wherever cruise ships travel, posting photo-heavy vignettes on the Lido Deck Blog and hosting weekly live chats.

Side Effects: Too much cruise voyeurism can lead to a permanent break from reality and, potentially, loss of family, job or Hawaiian shirt.
Prescription: Become an (Unpaid) Travel Agent

advising couple Take enough cruises, and you’ll start to discover the secrets the cruise lines don’t tell you. Use your developing expertise to help a friend or family member plan his next cruise. While helping new cruisers is rewarding in and of itself, you just might find a bathrobe, luggage tag and chocolate melting cake mix gift wrapped with your name on it.

Side Effects: Offending friends by demanding a commission
Prescription: Towels as Tonic

cruise towel animal lobster There’s no denying it: Most cruisers prefer the company of towel animals to their significant others. Ogle this menagerie of towel creatures, or get your hands linty by learning the time-honored craft.

Side Effects: Callouses, towel shortages, wet floors, grins that last more than four hours, no friends anymore

Prescription: Turn Your Home Into a Cruise Ship

cruise from home The next best thing to being there: Install a porthole in your bedroom, and paint the glass with a seascape, like reader Richard S. Alternatively, Member Dodget1964 brings home the breakfast room service menus and hangs them on the bedroom door. “I keep thinking the room service attendant will show up,” she writes. Better still, pass on your love of cruising to your child by filling his nursery with cruise ship accouterments.

For a more tongue-in-cheek approach, see our incisive report oncruising from home in 10 easy steps.

Side Effects: Home resale value reduction

Travel agents seek details on Norwegian-Prestige merger

Posted on 4 September, 2014 by Spacejunkie2

By Tom Stieghorst

Norwegian Cruise Line moved up its regular Wednesday webinar by one day this week to address the agent implications of its $3 billion acquisition of Prestige Cruise Holdings.

Agents listening to the webinar asked Norwegian’s executive vice president, Andy Stuart, and Prestige President Kunal Kamlani about its effect on commissions, about how the loyalty programs will be handled and whether they will see a cheapening of Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises to make the acquisition produce financial savings.

Both said several times that it will be “business as usual” for agents and consumers. “In our minds, it all starts with the clients,” Kamlani said.

On commissions, Kamlani said there are no plans in the next three months to change commissions for 2015. He said this is the traditional time of year to review agency agreements but that nothing should change because of the merger. “It is business as usual,” he reiterated.

The two executives said that how or whether to make Norwegian’s past guest loyalty benefits available to Oceania and Regent cruisers, and vice versa, was high on the list of things to consider but no decisions have been made.

Kamlani said in response to a question that he doesn’t expect to begin offering solo cruise rates after the merger. “We probably would never measure very well on that metric,” he said.

A question about merger savings hurting product quality at the Prestige brands drew a strong response from Kamlani.

“That travesty will not occur on any of our watches of anyone involved in this transaction. That’s as direct as I can be,” he said.

Norwegian-Prestige deal raises prospect of UK deployment

Posted on 3 September, 2014 by Spacejunkie2

Norwegian Cruise Line’s acquisition of Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises will give it the courage to base a ship in Southampton or Dover, according to Norwegian chief executive Kevin Sheehan.

He said it was too much of a risk to commit so much capacity to the UK market when you have only 13 ships, but with 21 in the combined group, it would definitely be a consideration now.

Sheehan said the deal was financially beneficial but also brought other benefits.

“It helps us withstand economic situations like recessions – the type of customers who travel with Oceania and Regent have a lot of money and that top end of the industry weathered the downturn well.”

It also helps it become more resilient to geographical situations and makes it operationally “smarter”.

But he said “synergies” across the three brands would be created “behind the curtain” initially.

“Certainly for a period of time because we don’t want to do anything stupid, we will continue selling and marketing the three brands individually as it’s worked well and we don’t want to mess that up.

“I don’t want to keep changing strategies like Royal Caribbean has, so we will stay as we are for quite a while,” he said.

But he said sales and marketing teams for each of the three brands would start to share knowledge and best practice.

And commenting on Royal Caribbean chief executive Richard Fain’s recent declaration that he wanted his company to be the best, Sheehan added:

“He can say he wants to be the best, but the report card comes out once a quarter and then we will see who’s best.

“We are bringing together two excellent businesses. Norwegian has gone from being a joke in this industry to the best in class in terms of yields, operational profit and onboard spend. It’s very positive and is only going to become more so.”

Sheehan said the deal had been financed by raising cash, selling some equity and raising money from banks including JP Morgan, Barclays and Deutsche Bank adding that every other bank had fallen over themselves trying to be part of it as “they could see how compelling the transaction was”.

Sheehan said bringing Oceania and Regent parent company Prestige Holdings into the fold had always been on his mind, but talks had never got far.

“I brought it up a couple of times but it never really got going. It was always too complicated or things were happening and getting in the way, like launching ships or taking the company public.

“But then Frank del Rio and I started a romance – we went for dinner and got to where we are now. It’s extremely exciting.”

Sheehan said he was not looking for any further acquisitions in the immediate future.

“We’re a conservative group of guys and girls and our hands will be full for a while. Our focus now is to ensure we have a very successful launch of our new Norwegian ship, Escape, next year and of the new Regent ship in 2016.”